Fabula
Object
Object

The Doctor's Reed (Poisoned Blowpipe)

A broken length of river reed roughly eight inches long, initially stripped of outer fibers to expose its hollow stalk for use as a crude drinking straw. The Doctor later sharpens one end against his teeth and hones the other with a sharp stone, converting it into a poisoned blowpipe. Its pale green interior carries liquid while the modified surface glistens faintly with poison extracted from the reed's own sap, delivered in a single swift strike against the Hunter. Leela wields it to neutralize the Tong assassin before he can strike, forcing the companions toward the sewers.
2 appearances

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

2 moments
S14E11 · The Deadly Assassin Part 3
Doctor crafts survival from tainted water

The Doctor breaks off a length of river reed near the contaminated pool and strips its fibers to expose the hollow stalk. He first uses it as a drinking straw to access untouched water from the pool's margins before refining it into a blowpipe for poisoned thorns.

Before: Discarded plant material collected from the Reed Thicket, intact and green
After: Honed into a blowpipe with polished interior diameter, then discarded with spent thorns littered nearby
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S14E11 · The Deadly Assassin Part 3
Doctor turns on his tormentor

The Doctor strips and hollows a reed stalk found at the contaminated pool’s edge, transforming it into a drinking straw and later a blowpipe capable of firing thorns. Its natural hollow allows fluid transfer for hydration and later poison delivery, turning a discarded plant into a precision weapon.

Before: Broken river reed lying among the thicket’s crisscrossing stems, damp and pliable at the water’s edge
After: Hollowed and sharpened at both ends, one bitten into a mouthpiece, the other fitted with a thorn carrying poison
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